


Expectations

by VirtuousNightmares



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Blood, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Physical Abuse, Suicide, Trigger Warnings, attempted suicide, homeless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 08:53:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10613490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirtuousNightmares/pseuds/VirtuousNightmares
Summary: Justin was kicked out of his own home and no one would answer his calls or texts. So he surely didn't expect Alex to bring him in and offer him a home for a couple of days. Luckily, Justin comes back the next day.





	

Justin stopped right at the door of the only place where he hoped he wouldn’t be thrown out. This was his last chance to find somewhere safe and comfortable. The last place he hoped they wouldn’t slam the door in his face because of how stupid his story was. Oh god, he couldn’t do this. He’s going to look desperate, but he was desperate. He couldn’t knock. He couldn’t. Not when he knew that knocking could turn into something bad, just like how he knocked his way into Hannah’s life and ruined it. That’s it, he’s not doing it. He just couldn’t. Turning around, Justin took a couple steps away from the front door and heard the door squeak open, but continued to walk until that fucking soft voice called out to him.

“Hey man, you can stay,” Alex said as Justin froze in place and slowly turned around to see an extremely tired Alex running his hand through his short, blonde hair. Leaning on the door frame, Alex tilted his head and smiled a bit, “I saw you just standing there. Plus, I was wondering when you’d come over ever since school ended today. Now get your ass in here, it’s fucking cold out here.” The wind seemed to pick up at just that moment and threw cold air at the two of them as Justin seemed unfazed by the cold since he was wearing his letterman jacket, but because Alex was wearing a short sleeved shirt, the chills ran through his spine and his arms instantly went to hug and shield himself from the wind.

Blinking stupidly at Alex, Justin opened his mouth to say something but closed it immediately. Sighing, he put down his duffel bag and shrugged off his letterman jacket, slinging his duffel bag around his shoulder and walking over to Alex who watched him silently. Justin stopped in front of Alex and they seemed to stare at each other for what felt like forever until Justin raised the jacket over Alex and carefully placed it around his shoulders tightly and securely. “I’m sorry for staying,” Justin said and bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything else, moving to walk past Alex, but the other quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving.

Turning to look at him, Justin didn’t know what to expect from Alex in that moment. “Don’t be sorry. I should be sorry. Thank you for coming back.”

“Why wouldn’t I come back?” Justin asked curiously.

Alex pursed his lips and averted his eyes before sighing, “I mean, she didn’t come back.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Justin assured quickly and immediately regretted asking about it. Justin placed a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder and smiled at him, “I’m staying.”

“I know,” Alex said as a matter of factly and shrugged off the other’s hand, closing the door and strutting over to his room. Justin watched him walk away from him but quickly followed before he disappeared down the hall. He stopped at the doorway of Alex’s room as Alex sat on the edge of his bed and pulled the jacket closer to himself, covering his entire top half almost like he wanted to hide from the world. Alex stared at the floor and they stayed there in silence for several minutes and neither of them dared to break it. There was no tension. There was no judgment. There was no hate. There was nothing. Nothing except two people who trusted each other enough to share secrets. Well, secrets that weren’t on the tapes. “I know what you’re thinking,” Alex said suddenly as Justin straightened up a bit.

“Really? What am I thinking, Standall?” Justin asked. He hadn’t meant to make it sound harsh, but it’s how it came out and Alex seemed unfazed by it. What the fuck is up with him?

Alex was silent for a good two minutes before looking up at Justin. “You’re thinking about how long could you stay here before I kick you out.”

Blinking at the blonde haired male, Justin frowned. Okay, he may not be thinking about it before, but it was one of his concerns before even having Alex’s house in sight. “How did you--”

“I won’t hate you, Justin. I’ll give you a home for as long as you need one, but you gotta stop with the tough guy act. You’re hurting and I want to help you, so let me.” Alex said upfront. Was he always straightforward?

Justin scoffed, “You think you can help me, Standall? Have you even helped yourself with your uh… your um… your stomach things?”

“Smooth,” Alex commented dully and stood up, keeping his grip on the jacket firm. He walked over to his desk and studied the contents on the desk for a while, “My stomach pains are less important than your home life.”

“Who’s the judge of that?”

“I am,” Alex said and finally let go of the jacket as it hung around his shoulders and he started organizing his desk, opening drawers and stacking a couple of notebooks and textbooks on top of each other in a neat pile.

“You’re in physical pain and I’m--”

“In emotional and probably mental pain too. In fact, I didn’t want to mention this, but those angry red marks on your neck yesterday were from someone who hurt you, wasn’t it?” At the end, Alex turned to Justin with a look of concern as Justin’s jaw dropped and he wanted to say something. Say anything to prove that Alex was wrong. That he was completely wrong. But he couldn’t bring himself to. He couldn’t bring himself to lie to Alex like that. Alex took a couple of steps toward Justin, “Let me help you, Justin.”

Justin shook his head and took a step back, “You can’t. What are you even going to do? Talk to my mom? Talk to Seth? I tried that! There’s nothing that you could do that could make this any better for me! Nothing!” Justin looked close to tears, but he quickly wiped those away and cursed under his breath. “Fuck this…” He turned to leave, but a hand quickly grasped his wrist and forced him to turn around. Being forcefully pulled into a firm but comforting hug, Justin froze in place as his letterman jacket fell onto the floor. “Alex--”

“Shut up for once in your goddamn life, Foley,” Alex responded and frowned. “I want to help you through this. I don’t care if I get hurt along the way. I want to help you, Justin. I have the chance to and I’m going to take it, so let someone in for once and fucking help you dig you out of this hole that you’ve made. Please,” Alex pleaded “I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.” Justin opened his mouth but quickly decided against saying something. Instead, he let his emotions take control and he cried. He fucking cried because he had to. He was keeping all of it in and now the floodgates opened up. He held onto Alex for dear life and cried on his shoulder as Alex was just there. He was there silently comforting him and supporting him and Justin appreciated that. He couldn’t remember the last time that he was just able to cry this much in front of someone.

“I’m sorry.” Justin sobbed.

Alex sighed and slowly shook his head, “No, I’m sorry, Justin.”

From then on, Justin always went to Alex’s house after school. Well, that was until he found Alex on the floor of his bedroom with a pool of blood spreading under the blonde haired teen’s body. Justin didn’t know what to expect from Alex in that moment, but it surely wasn’t this.


End file.
